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Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Expansion Review

The Magic: The Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 (Magic 2013 on the iPad)expansion package focuses on bringing players a taste of Ravnica’s guilds, just in time for the Return to Ravnica set launching in physical form. While players get a chance to experience some guild affiliated decks and cards with this $5.00 bundle, they should be aware that there are no Return to Ravnica cards in this package. That said, at the five dollar price point the new decks, puzzles, and campaign missions make the Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013Expansion an excellent addition to the base game.

The five new decks highlight the five guilds appearing in Return to Ravnica – Azorius, Golgari, Izzet, Rakdos, and Selesnya. Let’s begin by answering the million dollar question. Why no Return to Ravnica cards with the set poised for release? A previous Duels of the Planeswalkers expansion inadvertently revealed critical set mechanics and cards when players investigated game files. Here’s the official Wizards of the Coast response:

The development cycle for the TCG wasn’t aligned in way that allowed us to include Return to Ravnica cards in the expansion. We are excited, however, to be able to provide Duels players with the opportunity to play with cards from the original Ravnica set and get a preview of the guilds featured in the upcoming Return to Ravnica set.

Let’s take a look at the decks players gain access to with the Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Expansion:

The Azorius deck is Aura Servants, a blue/white deck that revolves around enchantments and interactions involving enchantments. Deck highlights include a Sigil of the Empty Throne to turn every enchantment into an aerial threat, a Mind Control to take your opponent’s best creature, two copies of Celestial Ancient to create grandiose aura-fueled armies, and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV to speed things up while slowing the opponent down. It all comes together nicely, as there are multiple ways to search and place critical cards into play whenever the need arises.

While it’s not quite as fast as some of the other Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 decks, Aura Servants can quickly take over a game. Because Aura Servants utilizes umbras and other enchantments that provide card advantage, the deck remains potent even against decks loaded with removal seeking to go “two-for-one” on your enchanted permanents. Excellent unlockable cards include Winds of Rath, Sovereigns of Lost Alara, and Sun Titan.

The Golgari deck is Sepulchral Strength, a green/black deck that revolves around the graveyard. While the deck lacks the Golgari dredge mechanic, it certainly succeeds in creating a circle of life and death that is happy providing sacrificial servants that power up the deck’s larger threats. Deck highlights include two Mortivores, a Creakwood Liege, a Grave Pact, a Spiritmonger, and two copies of Maelstrom Pulse. Sepulchral Strength has plenty of smaller threats that only become more troublesome as they make their way to the graveyard to fuel the deck’s design.

Boasting powerful creatures and potent removal , Sepulchral Strength is an excellent option for Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 players. Unlockable fare includes another Creakwood Liege, two copies of Lord of Extinction, a Gleancrawler, two copies of Master of the Wild Hunt, and two copies of Oracle of Mul Daya. The unlockable additions to Sepulchral Strength add considerable power, and there is a removal suite available as well.

The Izzet deck is Mindstorms, a blue/red deck that revolves around spellcasting. A signature Niv-Mizzet, the Firemindand aDominus of Fealty lead the way as two copies of Spellbound Dragon and three Wee Dragonauts are fueled by the deck’s package of card draw and removal. Three copies of Compulsive Research and two Prophetic Boltsget things rolling, with some other spot removal spells filing in the gaps. While it’s a far cry from the popular “counter-burn” templates of yesteryear, it is an adequate throwback to the days of evasive, spell-powered Izzet beatdowns.

The base deck does fall a bit flat, but the unlockable section provides some essential tools. Players can pick up additional copies of the aforementioned cards and a Time Warp(And some tools to do the Time Warp… Again!) to turn the deck into a consistent burst machine that can unleash lethal damage from out of nowhere.

The Rakdos deck is Grinning Malice, a red/black deck packed with ways to get damage through. Haste, trample, and sacrifice are all on display – Whatever it takes to get the job done. As one would expect with a red/black mix, this deck has incredibly powerful removal options with two Terminates and two Wrecking Balls in the base list. These back up two copies of Demigod of Revenge, a Rakdos the Defiler, and a Defiler of Souls to flesh out a deck that drops huge threats.

While it may not be as fast as other Duels of the Planeswalker 2013 aggro options, what it lacks in speed it makes up for in power and versatility. The unlockables for Grinning Malice contain additional copies of deck essentials and a ridiculous amount of removal options. Opponents looking to win with creatures are going to have a very difficult time overcoming the Grinning Malice removal suite. Oh, there’s a Grave Titan in there too.

Last but not least is the Selesnya deck, Collective Might. This green/white concoction is a traditional swarm deck, with a variety of ways to create a legion of token troops and enhance them. Highlights include Nemata, Grove Guardian, Verdeloth the Ancient, Tolsimir Wolfblood, and Parallel Lives. Collective Might is an extremely powerful mix that can keep up with fast decks and can overrun a game that goes late.

All in all, the new decks and content in Duels of the Planeswalker 2013 Expansion are excellent additions to the base game at a reasonable price point. Players looking to enjoy new Return to Ravnica cards or even some of the older mechanics and themes may be disappointed to find these absent. That said, the decks fit in with the existing mix admirably and offer a host of new options for campaign, dueling, and multiplayer play.

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Maybe they should ‘expand’ on the ability to compact their game instead…after seeing it takes up 1+ Gigs of memory (which may not seem like a lot, but is with numerous other Apps on board), it was easy to delete it to free up memory. 1Gig for a card game….minus any expansions or add on content purchased, is just too much fat on the bones.

You make a good point. As someone who plays quite a few iOS titles, there are several other games heavy on the memory usage such as Infinity Blade II. In both cases, the visuals are top notch – Memory is the hefty price. Considering the DOTP series came over from consoles and PC, it’s no small accomplishment to field the game on the iPad, but you are correct. Eventually memory is going to have to catch up on tablets in order to handle increasingly needier (and more impressive) titles.

Excellent review.. Now I finally have a iPad for myself this christmas. Check out my review for the game also: http://www.thegamingreviews.com/magic-the-gathering-duels-of-the-planeswalkers-2013-review/